Propaganda

I think that it is EXTREMLY important for students to learn about propaganda. We need to know what is really going on in our nation and why. Even though propaganda almost totally influences our money spending, it even more influences our country decisions. This is scary because we seem to all be “jumping on the bandwagon”. If a one world government comes around who’s going to stand against this?! If we don’t know how to protect our minds against propaganda and think for ourselves, then this generation is going to be controlled just like the rest of our “free” America. Freedom is a mind thing. We may be enslaved and controlled, but as long as our minds tell us otherwise, we are just as free as ever. This is why we need to be able to tell the difference between freedom and gold chains.

The purpose of propaganda is the same as persuasion. It is used to get someone to buy, believe, or use what we want them to use. We inflict their thoughts and their emotional attachments in order to sway them to see things the way that we want them to, often this is the way that will profit us. There are eight different types of propaganda and they are known as Bandwagon propaganda, Testimonial, Plain Folks, Transfer, Fear, Logical Fallacies, Glittering Generalities, and Name-calling. I think that Bandwagon, Logical Fallacies, and Plain Folk are the types of propaganda used most often. All of them are used often, but I see these ones a lot. Many commercials use the bandwagon technique to shout the message, “Everyone is doing it.” Also, I have found that when it comes to world or national issues, elections, or government, all three of these are used against the public.

I believe that food marketing is more effective in getting students and their parents to buy those products and services. I believe this because of the mental connection many people have with food in America. When you see something at the same time you eat it or right after or before, it makes you want it when you see it later, especially if it had a positive connotation the first time. Also, many people, especially in America, depend on food emotionally to comfort them. So, if the ads are what they are being shown that is the comfort that is engrained in their minds to seek. Our minds take pictures and correlate them with the “hungry” sensors in our body making this form of advertising very effective.

I read an article about food companies such as, McDonalds and Coke. There were a lot of facts from this article that surprised me. I think it’s ridiculous that the people that distribute “poison” to bodies, meaning McDonald’s, Coke, and Pepsi, all have fitness programs for schools! Should Public schools be allowed to access the teenage market in public schools?? ABSOLUTELY NOT! It is one thing to stick billions of ads in front of adults, but it is completely another to put them in front of teens. Now, I believe that teenagers are very smart, wise, and a lot more aware then our parents and adults give us credit for. But we are also full of raging hormones and changing opinions and minds that are being shaped into who we will become. We are incredibly impulsive. So, we often don’t evaluate the things we are taught or the ads we read because we trust they were put in front of us because they are perfectly harmless and true. Corporations could make a lot of money off of teens in public schools, but it could be very dangerous for the health of the teens and their families, so I will definitely be saying no to these ads being put in schools.

Many make-up commercials use the appeal to vanity in their ads. They tell women their skin will look “beautiful” and “flawless”. What woman doesn’t want to look like that? It is a very good use of propaganda for these commercials. A contemporary jingle that I find especially effective in today's media that creates an emotional or "memory" response for me is “Stanley Steamer gets your home cleaner!” It elicits a happy, homey, emotion because the man on there is always trying to be helpful and happy. Also, every time I see it I think of my family (when I saw it with them) and imagine my brother singing it, as he does over and over after it airs. It relates to the product being advertised because the product is carpet cleaning done by the Stanley Steamer company. When it sings, “Stanley Steamer gets your home cleaner!” it is relating to the nature of what Stanley Steamer does. This is a personal example of how propaganda can work. It is a great tool, but just like a power saw, you want to know whose hands it is in.

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